Gaslight Trials | The Wattys2023 Shortlister ✔️

16 | A Flight of the Firebird

Disturbing dreams fill my days of restless slumber. The face of my dying Pa intertwines with gory sequences from my battles. I bolt up screaming for my dad more times than I can count, only to remember he'll never be able to answer me.

When I do come to my senses, I lay still, waiting for the next onslaught of imagery.

The sound of rain drumming outside pulls me towards consciousness. I want to return to sleep; to imagine I am back in a warm cocoon of my straw bed, safe at home. Pa Otto is making coffee in alembic.

"Veda?" There is a voice, the wrong voice, not my Pa's.

I remember.

I'm not at home. Not with Pa. He's gone and incinerated according to the customs of the Lighthaven burial.

A bright lit room surrounds me. My bedchamber, in my new mansion right next to the Solarium, in the center of Lighthaven. Someone is knocking on the door. I recognize Sophie's voice. She and Stella came to live with me after she testified against the Grand Duke, and I can sense a strong kinship developing between Stella and Mar.

The one bright spot in all of this.

I beg her to go away and eventually, Sophie does. It takes at least an hour for me to cry myself out. Then I just lay curled up on the bed, stroking the silken sheets until I fall asleep.

A caress on my hair awakes me.

"I enjoy watching you sleep. You don't pout or huff. Improves your look."

This, of course, brings on a scowl that makes him grin.

The boy feeds me bites of strawberries and nudges me to drink warm tea. Then he wraps me in the blankets and tucks me back in.

"Be a good girl, now," Langdon teases as he brushes the tangles out of my hair, evading my open palm flying towards his face.

"Did I ever tell you about how Otto and his wife adopted me?" I ask.

Langdon shakes his head "But I think I deserve to hear it," and looks at me expectantly.

So I begin.

"Here's the real story of how I got adopted by the two. It was Sunday morning, the day before me ninth birthday. As soon as the breakfast ended, Mar and I hit the Junkyard, because I wanted to get enough scraps to get by. Yet the haul was nothing to write home about. I was disappointed as we headed back, even though Mar kept patting me on the hand, saying we'd be sure to do better next weak-end. We had just entered the Orphanage hall when we saw them.

A smiling couple, probably in their late forties. The man's velvet vest had a hastily sawn patch on. The woman was tastily dressed albeit in a plain cotton bodice. She nuzzled his nose and whispered something into his ear.

Momentarily, I'd felt a pang of yearning for never having something that most of the kids jus' take for granted.

A lovin' home."

"I hope to be able to give it to you, one day." Langdon leans forth and touches my knuckles with his lips.

I gulp and try to brush off this forward remark. The distrust is rooted too deeply within me to believe L's words are not jus a passin fancy of a posh Lighthavener.

"And then the Headmistress had instructed Mar and me to "run off and fix ourselves a hot bath, and get changed in clean clothes" all the while apologizing to the couple about our lack of manners."

"Can't say that I've ever seen you in clean clothes." Langdon chuckles and the tease earns him a smack on the nape.

"Will ye stawp interrupting me already?" I huff.